Information and communications technology stories

Tasmania’s future as a digital state will be front and centre when the inaugural FutureFest kicks off. The festival is a week-long celebration showcasing technology in Tasmania – both the future potential and the capabilities that already exist here. The digital extravaganza is being organised by TasICT and will feature 65 different events to highlight technological developments across the state. FutureFest 2018 includes a Young IT conference, workshops, and talks from experts covering topics from cyber security to virtual reality. Program manager, Katy Cooper, told The Examiner that FutureFest was aimed at four key audiences: “It is for students who are interested in technology, the start-up community, corporate IT and technology firms, and any Tasmanian business that want to understand technology better.” TasICT is keen to emphasise that Tasmania has enormous potential as a niche player in this sector. FutureFest 2018 will be held from October 15-19 at various locations in Hobart and Launceston.

Launceston grabbed national leadership as a smart city, received a Federal funding go-ahead for its Inveresk campus project and successfully hosted its first Mona Foma festival in a hectic first month of 2018.

Tasmanian-owned telco, Launtel, launched its Blue Ocean™ Gigabit nbn™ Internet service in Hobart in October, advancing a plan to make Tasmania the nation’s first “Gigabit State.” The lightning-fast service connects Tasmania with the global gigabit economy. Launtel chose Priceline Glenorchy for its launch ceremony to demonstrate that gigabit speeds can be a productive addition to the information technology utilised by any business in Tasmania. Launtel offers internet speeds 10 times faster than any other available internet service to businesses that have pure fibre to the premises connections. The services are 100 times faster than the present national average download speed of 10.1 Mbps. Launtel CEO, Michael Costigan, said: “Tasmania has long relied on four mainstays of economic growth: forestry, mining, agriculture and tourism. The introduction of gigabit internet adds a new economic driver that offers high-wage employment opportunities and environmentally friendly growth. It’s an industry that firmly places Tasmania at the forefront of the high-tech industry in Australia, and makes it the logical business location for Australian businesses wishing to interact on equal terms with other high speed economies around the world.”

Illustrator James Cuda’s Procreate iPad app is attracting millions of users worldwide, including Disney. “We created it for the professional market and we just built it so we would love it,” Mr Cuda told The Mercury. “Now we’re getting used by Disney and Pixar and getting great requests coming in from movie studios, but we still measure (the app and new features) by whether we’d like to use them.” Savage Interactive, which he and wife Alanna began in a spare bedroom of their suburban Hobart home, now boasts a conventional office and 11 workers. The firm’s achievements are inspiring other Australian app enthusiasts to seek similar success, with more than 113,000 Australians now working in apps. Procreate sits in second spot on Apple’s paid entertainment apps chart, making it one of Australia’s digital success stories.

Full chocolate output was restored at Hobart’s Cadbury factory in June, three days after a cyber attack halted all production. Cadbury was among hundreds of victims of the global attack that started in the Ukraine and spread to businesses around the world, including Australian branches of TNT Express and DLA Piper Lawyers. The ransomware was launched as a small piece of computer code inside a Word or PDF document. It shut computers down and demanded a ransom of 300 bitcoins, or $395 to unlock users’ data. All of the global IT networks of Cadbury’s parent company Mondelez International were affected. Joel Scanlan, a cyber security lecturer at UTAS, said older unpatched systems were being targeted by the extortionists.

Northern Tasmania recorded an 11 per cent increase in visitors in 2016, as the State exceeded 1.2 million visitors for the first time. Total statewide visitor numbers grew by 7 per cent, with visitor spending increasing by 10 per cent to $2.14 billion. The Premier, Will Hodgman, said: “Our regions are sharing in the benefits of the tourism boom with northern Tasmania the standout. The east coast was close behind recording a 10 per cent increase, while Cradle Coast was up 7 per cent.” Tasmania is ahead of the 5 per cent growth rate required annually to reach the Government’s tourism target of 1.5 million visitors by 2020. People arriving by air increased by 7 per cent, while sea visitors grew 11 per cent. International visitors increased by 11 per cent, with tourists from the United States up 13 per cent.

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